It is not easy to find Wii videogame consoles right now because they are disappearing from the shelves twice as fast as the rival Sony PlayStation 3.
They have also outsold Microsoft’s Xbox 360, which as of last Christmas was still ahead of the new Nintendo machine.
PlayStation 3 will hit the European market on March 23, starting with the 60 GB hard drive version, priced at €599. There may eventually be another more affordable version released with a 20 GB hard drive. The Wii weighs in at €250, while the basic model of the Xbox 360 is available for €300. Nintendo has obviously won a battle. Now it remains to be seen who will win the war.

Nintendo’s gameplan, which consists of offering a product with less sophisticated features and a lower price so as to reach new segments of the market, has catapulted the company past its rivals. Nevertheless, it is still too soon to know which console will ultimately win the game, which has just gotten underway.

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Title: The Netsize Guide 2007 Edition. Convergence: Everything’s Going Mobile
Source: Netsize Group
Date: February 21, 2007
Abstract: Mobile phone penetration has already surpassed 80% in most developed markets, and has even reached 100% in some countries. Among these is Spain, which had 46 million mobile phone users in 2006.
The analysts at Netsize predict that the mobile phone industry is at the dawn of a period of major growth and prosperity. Beyond voice calls or SMS text messages, cell phones are now being used for a number of additional functions, including mobile entertainment, mobile marketing, mobile business and electronic mobile commerce. 
The study shows that music was the main source of growth in the subsegment of mobile entertainment in 2006, although the numbers were also boosted by television, videos and games. According to the report, the latter of these will bounce back from a period of relative stagnation experienced by the mobile games market from late 2005 to mid 2006.
Netsize also makes note of the growth potential for mobile commerce, although it warns that companies and providers must be able to expand payment methods, so as to cater to different types of consumers. Advertising will be another contributor to this surge in mobile content, helping to subsidize costs to the consumer.

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In the information technology market there is major disagreement regarding the rules that should be applied to patents, especially when it comes to software. Meanwhile, patent infringement disputes are becoming commonplace, so much that the US government could empower the Patent and Trademark Office to directly handle the majority of these lawsuits, taking the function away from the judicial system. Among the most famous recent cases are the more or less veiled threats by Microsoft against Linux users for supposed patent infringement, in another example of how patents have become another formula for generating revenues or scare off their rivals. Nevertheless, the most noted case is the recent ruling against Microsoft, which has been ordered to pay over €1 billion to Alcatel-Lucent for its use of MP3 format audio compression technologies. The ruling could lead to a string of lawsuits given the popularity of digital music, which is largely MP3 based. But the list of pending claims, many of which are against Microsoft, continues to grow.

Articles in New York Times and Cinco Días 
News in El País

Tryvertising, a new variation of product placement, entails consumers trying out the product at their convenience, without pressure from the manufacturer. With this formula, manufacturers are seeking a closer knit dialogue with consumers than that provided by mass marketing campaigns. As a result, tryvertising is especially appropriate for consumers of high-priced products. These customers, normally part of the upper-middle income segment, respond favorably to the idea of being able to try out the product before purchasing. One of the luxury brands using this strategy is Mercedes-Benz, which allows guests of the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain test drive its CLS500 model.
Other companies are using tryvertising to connect with a less elite segment of the population than the previous case. Ikea, for instance, has reached a deal with the French hotel chain Etap, which has been redecorated entirely with furniture from the Swedish multinational so that its guests can test out its comfortability.
Tryvertising favors manufacturers because satisfied consumers become proponents of the virtues of their products while critics help them fix their weak points. Word of mouth is very powerful. And it was made even more so by the World Wide Web.e-Wom adds two new important dimensions to the concept: unprecedented scalability and speed of diffusion, and persistence and measurability.

Article in Trendwatching
Report in e-business Center
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The e-Business Center PwC&IESE on March 27 will host its annual event in Barcelona, this year under the title “TIC e innovación: ¿están conectadas?” (ICT and Innovation: Are They Connected?). The day session will include the participation of Peter Weill, director of the MIT Center for Information Systems Research & Senior Research Scientist, who will explain that for a business project to be successful it is key for the business architecture to guide the overall innovation process.
IESE professor Sandra Sieber will try to show whether Spanish companies are innovative with ICT. Finally, Bimbo and Hospital de Badalona, whose representatives will share their experiences with technological innovation.

The importance of the Spanish ICT sector is still below the average of the other OECD countries, however its growth from 1995-2003 was more dynamic than the other sectors of the Spanish economy, particularly due to the strong performance by telecommunications services.
The study entitled “Tamaño y estructura del sector de las tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones en España” carried out by IESE professors Sandra Sieber and Josep Valor, also show that to increase competition among Spanish companies and to converge with the other OECD countries, innovative efforts must be promoted. Particularly in the ICT manufacturing segment, the one that appears to be less competitive.

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Josep Valor, professor of information systems at IESE, will participate alongside Marcel Coderch, vice president of the Spanish Telecommunications Market Commission (CMT), in a debate panel on the challenges of digital convergence. The event, which will take place March 8 at the headquarters of the Palau de Congressos of Catalonia, will also feature the awarding of the 2007 Salvà i Campillo prizes for the best projects in information and communications technology on the regional, national and European levels. Professor Sandra Sieber will be one of the members of the jury.

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The Barcelona Digital Foundation is hosting the fourth edition of the IGC Digital Innovation Awards, a contest that fosters research and innovation in new technologies.
This year’s contest will consist of three categories: R&D projects from large companies, R&D projects from small companies and entrepreneurs, and university and institutional projects. The period for submitting nominations ends March 20.

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